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For those who are thinking to travel to Barcelona, a friend of mine have created a new Barcelona Guide. The work made collecting all the most important information regarding a trip to Barcelona is amazing. The guide is still under construction, but now you will find all kind of information, really detailed information about all kind of things:

A better Barça won their encounter against Racing Santander. Two goals from Ronaldinho allows Barça to increase their lead at the top of the table. Leo Messi played his first part in a game for three months following his recovery from injury.A penalty save from Valdes, two goals from Ronaldinho and the return of Leo Messi gave the home support something extra to cheer about. Frank Rijkaard has continued to help the team evolve as he has done in the last few games; in as much as the team’s physical display as well as their efficiency. The blaugrana continue to lead la liga and even increase their advantage a little.Movement and consistency Following the adjustments made in
Pamplona, Frank Rijkaard again put Rafa Marquez in the centre and paired up Edmilson and Puyol in defence. Other changes saw Belletti and Iniesta team up on the right flank. Barça played with fluidity and piled the pressure on the opposition, with Deco and Xavi dominating in the centre of the pitch and creating many opportunities for the attacking players. The first occasion opening up in the 12th minute when Zambrotta made a run into the area, however, preferred to play the ball back.Penalty Racing were beginning to find their feet in the game, but by no means were they causing Barça too many problems. However, in the 25th minute, the referee pointed to the spot for the visitors following a foul by Belletti on Juanjo. The home crowd was silenced, however, it did not last long as Valdes chose correctly and saved Garay’s spot kick. This save was Valdes’ second penalty save of the season.Barça raised their game following the penalty incident and in the 26th minute, Barça created two chances, one for Belletti and Ronaldinho and another for Iniesta and Saviola. Iniesta himself finished the half with a powerful long range effort which brought about a good save form Calatayud.Stars Barça had it clear in their minds that they wanted goals, while at the same time they had no time or space to relax. Ronaldinho tried from distance shortly after the break, however, the Racing defence held together well and denied the blaugrana easy passage through to goal.Persistance paid off in the 51st minute. Ronladinho was fouled a few metres outside of the area, which he executed the free kick with precision to break the deadlock. His free kick demonstrating the Barça ‘10′ is one of the best free kick takers around, if not the best. Ronaldinho appeared very up for the game and it was the Brazilian again who doubled the advantage with a header from Deco’s free kick. The celebrations were complete when Messi came on for Saviola; the home crowd voicing their appreciation.Denied the third In the closing stages of the game, a new party began following the arrival of news fromMalaga. Barça looked for the third goal, Ronaldinho coming close following a darting run into the area where his shot grazed the inside post denying him his hat-trick. A short while later, he made a similar run; this time his cross being just a little too high for Giuly to guide his header.Amongst the chants of ‘Champions’ in response to the Copa del Rey victory for the basketball team, Rijkaard brought on Oleguer, who received a rapturous welcome from the crowd. Barça came away deserved victors, stretching their slim advantage over the chasing pack.Click HERE for details of the matchThe goals1-0, Ronaldinho (min 51)
2-0, Ronaldinho (min 67)

During this month and until January 2007 you can enjoy a great fusion between the Opera and Flamenco in Barcelona. The Poliorama Theatre offers the melody of lyrical singing, the seduction of the Gitano dance and the magic of Spanish music, all in a unique show.This is a festival of music and dance, from Bizet with his passionate Carmen, till De Falla in his Amor Brujo in a Journey through the popular songs and Spanish Zarzuelas. Tradition and flamenco are waiting for you in and unforgettable night.

The Picasso Museum in Barcelona (entrance shown, right) is in the heart of the old city on the Carrer Moncada and since its recent expansion now sprawls over a row of five Gothic palaces once – in late medieval times – home to Barcelona’s aristocrats.

On the trip with us was Sybille Wáchter, a Swiss girl from Zurich, who reckoned that in the 7 weeks she has been with us in Barcelona reckoned she had “done nothing cultural” and that the Picasso Museum was going to be a first – in her last week here. Well, actually, she had been to see the Barça stadium (and was most impressed), as well as the chocolate museum, did that count as cultural?

Pilar Diaz, who took us, led us on the short walk through the backstreets from the school to the Carrer Moncada, where she stopped to give us some brief background notes before we went in. “We’ll meet back here in an hour,” she said, which proved to be about right (though Jennie Gunter, from New Orleans who was also with us – and who liked the museum very much – said she would have wanted longer).

Picasso (1881-1973), though born in Malaga, moved to Barcelona with his family in 1895 and Barcelona was important to his formative years, with his first public exhibition at the Quatre Gats in 1897, which we went to on a previous visit to some of the hidden corners of Barcelona.

The Museum, opened in 1963, contains an important collection of his early work. If you start to think as you wander round, “Ooh, our ‘arry could do better than that!”, just remember that Picasso was only 15 or 16 when he was doing this early stuff. (He doesn’t seemed to have learnt to write his own name until about 1900, to judge from the fact that none of the early paintings were signed – but don’t take that to be historical fact!)

The collection doesn’t immediately strike you as being a very extensive one. Among the early work, there are a couple of curious paintings of the beach at Barceloneta as it was 100 years ago, complete with donkeys and none of the landmarks to be seen there today – no Hotel Arts, no Forum 2004…

The Barcelona Picasso Museum, the experts say, doesn’t contain his most important work – Guernica, for example is in Madrid’s Reina Sofía Art Centre and you’ve got the Paris collections and a new Picasso musuem in Malaga. Much of the really spectacular stuff is in private hands but what the cognoscenti (aka my sister-in-law) also say is that in fact the Barcelona Picasso collection

Probably the most famous work that the Barcelona collection does include are Las Meninas (1957), a suite of 58 works analysing Velázquez’s painting Las Menas, which the museum’s chronological collection suddenly jumps to. If you wonder quite where Picasso got something from in the original, there’s a comparison chart in Room 16 that may help, showing which characters were inspired by which (including the dog, that is).

Gaetane Joseph, a New Yorker, had been more impressed by the palaces that house it than by the collection itself (which she liked “more than the Miró Foundation”, which wasn’t saying much, she said). You see just enough of the original interiors – a ceiling here, a back staircase there, the occasional glimpse of the courtyards they were built around, to make you wish they had been able to conserve a bit more.

Picasso’s not really my cup of tea, I’m afraid, so personally I wasn’t that impressed. It didn’t compare favourably, I couldn’t help thinking, with the wonderful Cartier-Bresson exhibition currently on at the CaixaForum. The area round the Picasso Musuem – as well as some of the other museums and art galleries on the same street, not to mention the Miramelindo in the Borne at the end of the street… Well, that’s more my kind of scene.

So is the museum worth a visit? Silvia Di Pietro, a secondary school teacher from Zurich, thought so – definitely. She had liked the chronological arrangement of the work and it had made her want to see more of Picasso – so “yes”.

“And how did you learn such great Spanish, Silvia,” we asked. “Oh, by travelling,” she said. And is seeing something of a country’s culture important to language acquisition, as some experts say, we also asked. “No,” says Silvia, “but it’s very certainly very interesting”.

Boadas Cocktail Bar in Barcelona is easy to miss, but open the door of C/Tallers1 and you’re in a tiny, triangular, wood-panelled room lined with cartoons. Great cocktails – try the daily special, mixed with verve by the diminutive manageress while she keeps up a flow of gossip and debate with her regulars. Mary McMurray

Riera Baixa is full of funky shops specialising in club wear, retro-originals, accessories and shoes. Also record shops, comic shops, tattoo and piercing parlours. A good place to pick up flyers and free listings mags. Every Saturday, from May to September, the Mercat Alteriu (Alternative Market) is held. The nearest Metro stop is Liceu. Opening times: 11am-2pm; 5pm-9pm.

Emma Edwards

La Balagne Restaurant (Calle Casp 17, tel: 0034 93 4120335, La Balagne Restaurant) is just a minute from the Plaza Catalunya and just off the Passeig de Gracia – a very classy looking restaurant, great ambience and attentive staff at affordable prices. You can have a four-course meal, including a serving of smoked Catalan pork, with aperitifs, a white rioja and a brandy for about £30 a head including the cost of drinks.

Trevor Skingle

A modernista (art nouveau) gastronomic tour of Barcelona should include the following:

* Fonda Espanya in Hotel Espanya (Domenech i Montaner, 1902-1903), Carrer Sant Pau, 9-11, Metro Liceu (tel: +93 3181758). Designed by the same architect that built the sumptuous Palau de la Musica Catalana and Hospital de la Santa Creu i St Pau (near Gaudi’s Sagrada Famillia). The restaurant has three rooms, the first decorated in floral mosaics, while the second has a highly sculpted fireplace (Eusebi Arnau). However, the main attraction is the rear room decorated by the artist Ramon Casas. The walls are covered in scriffito pictures of sealife, including mermaids. The lunchtime menu del dia is €10-€12. From the à la carte evening menu, I can recommend the prawns in cream and whiskey (€10.60). Expect to pay €20-€30 per head in the evening for three courses inclusive of wine and water.

* Casa Martí, Els Quatre Gats (Puig i Cadafach, 1895-1896). Montsió, 3 bis Passatge del Patriarca, 1 (Metro Pl Catalunya). It was the meeting place for the Bohemian circles of Barcelona at the turn of the century, such as Pablo Picasso, Ramon Casas, Santiago Rusiñol and Utrillo. The bar/restaurant is a recent reconstruction as the original establishment lasted only six years at the end of the 19th century. Inside are copies of its original paintings, including the portrait of the then owner Pere Romenu on a tandem (now in Barcelona’s Modern Art Museum) by Ramon Casa, and a copy of a sculpture by J Limona. The restaurant has a bar area at the front with a good choice of Spanish, Belgian, Scandinavian and Canadian beers (€2.50-€4 per bottle). You can also buy moderately-priced tapas here, or go to the restaurant behind for the full menu. Mainly caters for tourists.

* Casa Almirall, C/Joaquín Costa 33 (no phone). Metro Universitat, bus all routes to Plaça Universitat. Open 7pm-2.30am Mon-Thur; 7pm-3am Fri, Sat. Opened in 1860, the Almirall is the oldest continuously functioning bar in the city. It still has its elegant, early modernista woodwork that is charmingly unkempt. Iron beams supporting the original wooden crossbeams are the result of city-enforced renovations, but the big soft sofas have been allowed to remain.

* Restaurant La Dama, Casa Sayrach, (Manuel Sayrach, 1918) Metro Diagonal (+ 93 2020686). Outside, it appears to be an art deco-influenced Casa Mila – plainer and slightly more angular than the Gaudi original. In the entrance hall, Gaudi meets HR Giger, or alternatively how the inside of Captain Nemo’s Nautilus would look. The restaurant is much more restrained, having been originally someone’s lounge. The restaurant has a Michelin star, but the reviews I have read do not indicate that it is worth the €50-70 per head.Neil R Thomas

I went to Barcelona to visit my little brother that I hadn’t seen in two months, but apart from that the thing I was mostly looking forward to was the fact that I finally would be able to see a game at stadio Nou Camp. I had seen FC Barcelona plenty of times before, in Sweden, in Italy and in Spain, but never on homeground. The stadium is, I believe, the world’s biggest, taking around 98 000 spectators (exactly 98 934 actually) and is quite something special! I went there to see the Champions League-game between Barcelona and Panathinaikos (Greece). I bought the tickets by Internet, thru an agency called www.barcelona-football-club-tickets.com Great stadium, great amount of spectators (around 60 000) and a fantastic game. FC Barcelona won 5-0, but still the atmosphere was crap. Definately the worst I’ve ever heard/seen at a game this big. The only one singing a bit was the Greek away supporters, but when FC Barcelona early on did 2-0 also they stopped singing. Apart from that there were only a few chants of “Barca Barca Barca” from the FC Barcelona faithtful. Embarassing… But the evening was magic anyway, and it’s definately something everyone who have even the slightest interest in football should visit! Around the stadium you can find a lot of different souvenirs for sale, but they are both fake and expensive. Three-four double the price from what is for sale in Italy before the games.. Something we didn’t have the time to do, but I still can recommend, is a visit to the stadium on a day when there isn’t a game. Then you can visit the FC Barcelona museum, with all their silverware and also old souvenirs and memories from the past. It’s also possible to take a tour, and going into the stadium through the player tunnel. You can’t stand on the grass though, and neither take part in the FC Barcelona-training… 😉

I know the problem to find accommodation when you arrive to Barcelona and you are looking for some place to live.

Here I would like to provide some sites where to find good rooms and apartments. They are sites not very well know between foreign people, because some of them are in spanish or catalan.

Long term accommodation

There are two very good sites to find long term accommodation. In both sites they will offer you apartments to rent in Barcelona. Long term rentals in Barcelona arregulated by the LAU (Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos, Urban Renting Law), and normally the contract will be for minimum 1 year and with the possibility to extend the contract 4 more years. Every owner of any apartment will you ask for some guaranties. The usual ones are:

To have a job in Barcelona. The cost of the apartment must be maximum the 30% of the incomes.

A fee of 1 month to pay the agency.

1 month as a deposit (2 if the aparment is furnished)

The payment of the current month.

Extra 4 month of deposit if you dont have a good job, or you are an student.

Due to all the documentation and money that cost to rent an apartment, when you are in Barcelona to stay for less than a year, most of the people just rent a room in a shared apartment.

There are many rooms in shared apartment. But sometimes to find a perfect room is quite difficult. The main problem is the quality of the rooms. There are many rooms where you dont have even a window, or they are in a horrible apartment, and usually finding a nice room takes some days and requires visiting hundrets of rooms. However, if you are lucky, you will find a nice room in the city centre.

The cost of a room in the city centre may be around 350Euros. You can find something cheaper if you move from the centre to Upper City, or to the University. Ciutat Vella is more expensive.

!!!!!!!!!!!Please, help me! If you know other sites to complete a helpful list to find accommodation in Barcelona, please write it in a comment and I will update it inmediatly!!!!!!!!!!!

Short Term Rental

If you come to Barcelona just to visit or for tourism, you would like to find a room in a hotel. Hotels in Barcelona are expensive. Now in Barcelona is very popular to rent a room in Bed and Breakfast. They are small hotel-business where you can find a nice room in the centre for the cost of a bed in a dormitory. I have tried some and you enjoy a private double room for just 30 Euros per person.

Here I paste some interesting links to hotels and Bed and Breakfast in Barcelona: